Bleacher Report Game of the Year

[TexasAg1969]

Texas A&M-LSU with Bama-Georgia runnerup:

Game of the Year

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Winner: Texas A&M 74, LSU 72 (7OT)

Excluding national championships, there aren't many "I remember where I was when" moments in college football. Certain fanbases will always remember big moments involving their teams, but there are usually so many games happening concurrently that it's tough for the majority of football fans to be honed in on the same one.

There are exceptions, of course. There's the Boise State "Statue of Liberty" play in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. (More than a decade later, I can still remember I was eating a bowl of ice cream in my mom's kitchen.) There was the Kick Six in the 2013 Iron Bowl and Michigan's punt fiasco against Michigan State in 2015. And I think we can add this seven-overtime game to the list.

It wasn't any individual play—though there were quite a few great ones. It was just the increasing absurdity as the game kept dragging on. Every time the second team to possess the ball scored again to tied it up and force another period, I started laughing even harder.

And thanks to social media, it gradually became a national moment. By overtime No. 7—with LSU head coach Ed Orgeron still wet and miserable from his premature Gatorade bath at the end of regulation—it was as if we were all sitting in the same bar, staring at our phones and laptops and soaking in the glory of that game.

Oh, there have been ridiculously long overtime games before. Just last year, Western Michigan and Buffalo went to seven overtimes too. But this was a regular-season-ending game between the then-No. 7 Tigers and No. 22 Aggies, and it actually meant something to the College Football Playoff conversation. It served as a 10-times multiplier on the "I gotta see how this ends" scale.

It wasn't the most important game of the season, but it's the one I'll never forget.

                                                       

Runner-Up: Alabama 35, Georgia 28 (SEC Championship)

[The Gipper]

Idiotic stupid dumbass rule game of the year perhaps

[Bob806]

On 12/6/2018 at 11:53 AM, TexasAg1969 said:

Texas A&M-LSU with Bama-Georgia runnerup:

Game of the Year

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Winner: Texas A&M 74, LSU 72 (7OT)

Oh, there have been ridiculously long overtime games before. Just last year, Western Michigan and Buffalo went to seven overtimes too. But this was a regular-season-ending game between the then-No. 7 Tigers and No. 22 Aggies, and it actually meant something to the College Football Playoff conversation. It served as a 10-times multiplier on the "I gotta see how this ends" scale.

No doubt the game was entertaining, especially for the southern region who roots "for a conference."

I'm not trying to be an a$$ but the orange print is exactly why college football is screwed up.

LSU at #7 is a joke.They played one good game all year when they beat Georgia. Pulled one out against over rated Auburn (at the time Auburn was #7). Your Aggies beat 'em in an undoubtedly exciting game, but weren't they down a bit this year?

The Top 20 was expanded to the Top 25 in 1989. Ever notice how many of the SEC teams appear at #21-25 every week, so it protects teams like this year's LSU? LSU can then say, for example..."hey we beat #21 Mississippi St and #24 Missouri." 

While the same criteria doesn't happen in the Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12. Those teams get penalized by losing to conference foes, or barely winning vs conference foes..."the PAC 12 is down,"...."Penn St. isn't a good win for tOSU, they're down this season,"...."the Big 12 doesn't play defense." etc etc etc.

Sorry man. At one time I totally agreed the SEC was the best. Then the internet happened and I found out teams like Florida and Georgia never travel outside of 500 miles. Alabama, yes the standard of excellence, hasn't played an out of conference road game vs a ranked opponent anywhere except a bowl game or Kickoff Classic in 20+ years. 

Boy, I wish they didn't have these bowl-tie ins. tOSU would defeat Georgia. So would West Virginia. Both would destroy LSU. 

Sorry to rain on your parade. I love football but NCAA football is getting ruined.

 

 

[wargograw]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 5:08 PM, Bob806 said:

No doubt the game was entertaining, especially for the southern region who roots "for a conference."

I'm not trying to be an a$$ but the orange print is exactly why college football is screwed up.

LSU at #7 is a joke.They played one good game all year when they beat Georgia. Pulled one out against over rated Auburn (at the time Auburn was #7). Your Aggies beat 'em in an undoubtedly exciting game, but weren't they down a bit this year?

The Top 20 was expanded to the Top 25 in 1989. Ever notice how many of the SEC teams appear at #21-25 every week, so it protects teams like this year's LSU? LSU can then say, for example..."hey we beat #21 Mississippi St and #24 Missouri." 

While the same criteria doesn't happen in the Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12. Those teams get penalized by losing to conference foes, or barely winning vs conference foes..."the PAC 12 is down,"...."Penn St. isn't a good win for tOSU, they're down this season,"...."the Big 12 doesn't play defense." etc etc etc.

Sorry man. At one time I totally agreed the SEC was the best. Then the internet happened and I found out teams like Florida and Georgia never travel outside of 500 miles. Alabama, yes the standard of excellence, hasn't played an out of conference road game vs a ranked opponent anywhere except a bowl game or Kickoff Classic in 20+ years. 

Boy, I wish they didn't have these bowl-tie ins. tOSU would defeat Georgia. So would West Virginia. Both would destroy LSU. 

Sorry to rain on your parade. I love football but NCAA football is getting ruined.

 

 

This would be a halfway decent argument if the SEC didn't dominate the bowls, dominate interconference competition, dominate the NFL draft, dominate the playoffs, etc. Get over it.

[mjp28]

13 minutes ago, wargograw said:

This would be a halfway decent argument if the SEC didn't dominate the bowls, dominate interconference competition, dominate the NFL draft, dominate the playoffs, etc. Get over it.

I'm a big BIG TEN fan always have been but the SEC is the hot conference of the P5 right now especially with ALA on a hot streak.

The BIG TEN has it's bright moments as long as OHIO STATE remains a top 5 team.

[The Gipper]

59 minutes ago, wargograw said:

This would be a halfway decent argument if the SEC didn't dominate the bowls, dominate interconference competition, dominate the NFL draft, dominate the playoffs, etc. Get over it.

I am not sure that the SEC dominates any of those.   Alabama alone may...but not the SEC.  I believe the SEC had a losing record in bowl games last year.  For a couple of years running the ACC had the season edge in games vs. the SEC....and the SEC had a losing record vs. P5  interconference competition.

The DO however dominate in putting together cupcake nonconference schedules.  They are excellent at that. All those games against the Citadel, Furman, and Louisiana-Munroe.

[Bob806]

1 hour ago, wargograw said:

This would be a halfway decent argument if the SEC didn't dominate the bowls, dominate interconference competition, dominate the NFL draft, dominate the playoffs, etc. Get over it.

Dominate? Get over it?

You missed a key point. They don't travel. They don't feel they have too.

Their Bowl games are in their backyard. They should win most of those.

 

[wargograw]

3 hours ago, The Gipper said:

I am not sure that the SEC dominates any of those.   Alabama alone may...but not the SEC.  I believe the SEC had a losing record in bowl games last year.  For a couple of years running the ACC had the season edge in games vs. the SEC....and the SEC had a losing record vs. P5  interconference competition.

The DO however dominate in putting together cupcake nonconference schedules.  They are excellent at that. All those games against the Citadel, Furman, and Louisiana-Munroe.

4-3 in bowl games last year.

The ACC "had the season edge in games vs. the SEC" in 2014 and 16. That's pretty much it. Every other year since 07 the SEC has been on top of that.

"the SEC had a losing record vs. P5  interconference competition." Yes, it was 10-12 last year and it was sub .500 in 2016 as well. This year it's 9-3, and the SEC's had a winning record against other P5 competition all other years since 2005.

[wargograw]

2 hours ago, Bob806 said:

Dominate? Get over it?

You missed a key point. They don't travel. They don't feel they have too.

Their Bowl games are in their backyard. They should win most of those.

 

This is the most irrelevant and reachy point that I hear. Most bowl games have like 25,000 people in the stands. Who cares? We do play a lot of neutral site games. If you don't like it, don't schedule them. We will see you in the playoffs and history has proven one of our teams will win....

[wargograw]

4 hours ago, mjp28 said:

I'm a big BIG TEN fan always have been but the SEC is the hot conference of the P5 right now especially with ALA on a hot streak.

The BIG TEN has it's bright moments as long as OHIO STATE remains a top 5 team.

I agree and I think the Big 10 is far and away the second best conference.

[Bob806]

13 minutes ago, wargograw said:

This is the most irrelevant and reachy point that I hear. Most bowl games have like 25,000 people in the stands. Who cares? We do play a lot of neutral site games. If you don't like it, don't schedule them. We will see you in the playoffs and history has proven one of our teams will win....

There's that "we" word again.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. There's no way you're going to objectively look at my points it's obvious.

I've been in Browns Backers bars in the south, a lot of Fun, but an extremely narrow view on NCAA Football.

 

[The Gipper]

3 hours ago, wargograw said:

4-3 in bowl games last year.

The ACC "had the season edge in games vs. the SEC" in 2014 and 16. That's pretty much it. Every other year since 07 the SEC has been on top of that.

"the SEC had a losing record vs. P5  interconference competition." Yes, it was 10-12 last year and it was sub .500 in 2016 as well. This year it's 9-3, and the SEC's had a winning record against other P5 competition all other years since 2005.

  How far back in history do you want to go. Tell me when they started the cupcake walk. 

[The Gipper]

3 hours ago, wargograw said:

This is the most irrelevant and reachy point that I hear. Most bowl games have like 25,000 people in the stands. Who cares? We do play a lot of neutral site games. If you don't like it, don't schedule them. We will see you in the playoffs and history has proven one of our teams will win....

We ?who is we ? the only we you were associated with Is Taxes A&M

[wargograw]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 4:29 PM, Bob806 said:

There's that "we" word again.

Anyway, Merry Christmas. There's no way you're going to objectively look at my points it's obvious.

I've been in Browns Backers bars in the south, a lot of Fun, but an extremely narrow view on NCAA Football.

 

Well I gave you a million data points and so far your only one is "well y'all don't travel for bowl games," and I showed you why that is irrelevant. I am awaiting better info.

[wargograw]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 8:08 PM, The Gipper said:

  How far back in history do you want to go. Tell me when they started the cupcake walk. 

For determining what is the best conference right now? Recent would be what matters most. I don't think I've ever argued that the SEC is the best conference all time (maybe it is, who knows, I've never looked into it because it doesn't matter).

[The Gipper]

3 hours ago, wargograw said:

For determining what is the best conference right now? Recent would be what matters most. I don't think I've ever argued that the SEC is the best conference all time (maybe it is, who knows, I've never looked into it because it doesn't matter).

Well..."recently" is when the cupcake walk for the SEC has existed.....not sure how far back it goes. 

[Bob806]

18 hours ago, wargograw said:

Well I gave you a million data points and so far your only one is "well y'all don't travel for bowl games," and I showed you why that is irrelevant. I am awaiting better 

Lol...ok let's say I agree that not traveling for Bowl games  is irrevelant. I suppose you're correct that it's not the SEC's  fault people prefer better climates for Bowl games. The PAC 10 has enjoyed the home field advantage in the Rose Bowl for decades, as teams from the midwest see tgeir first bikini in 4 months😊

So of your million data points, you're ok with Bama, Florida and Georgia staying within a 500 mile radius? Rarely/never even traveling to Syracuse, Boston College, Ann Arbor, Madison? 

I know it's a 2 way street. In my Buckeye fan homerdom, spanning 48 years, they've had home -and -homes with USC, UCLA, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Florida St, LSU, Missouri, West Virginia; Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College, Penn St before PSU entered the Big 10, BYU.....

I suppose you will say that's irrevelant too. 

And it's not nearly enough. Not nearly enough intersectional games by my Buckeyes. They schedule a lot of MAC teams, which I despise.

How's that? A Buckeye homer admitting their TEAM has scheduling flaws despite taking RISKS occasionally. 

Happy New Year.  Hope my post helped clear the air on my SEC angst.

[The Gipper]

3 hours ago, Bob806 said:

Lol...ok let's say I agree that not traveling for Bowl games  is irrevelant. I suppose you're correct that it's not the SEC's  fault people prefer better climates for Bowl games. The PAC 10 has enjoyed the home field advantage in the Rose Bowl for decades, as teams from the midwest see tgeir first bikini in 4 months😊

So of your million data points, you're ok with Bama, Florida and Georgia staying within a 500 mile radius? Rarely/never even traveling to Syracuse, Boston College, Ann Arbor, Madison? 

I know it's a 2 way street. In my Buckeye fan homerdom, spanning 48 years, they've had home -and -homes with USC, UCLA, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Florida St, LSU, Missouri, West Virginia; Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College, Penn St before PSU entered the Big 10, BYU.....

I suppose you will say that's irrevelant too. 

And it's not nearly enough. Not nearly enough intersectional games by my Buckeyes. They schedule a lot of MAC teams, which I despise.

How's that? A Buckeye homer admitting their TEAM has scheduling flaws despite taking RISKS occasionally. 

Happy New Year.  Hope my post helped clear the air on my SEC angst.

I always thought that Ohio State vs. Kentucky would be a somewhat natural rivalry....a neighboring state rivalry .as good as OSU/Indiana, or OSU/Penn St.....not quite OSU Michigan...    The other I thought would be OSU/West Virginia...also a neighboring state.  In fact here are the distances:

Columbus to State College PA:  322 miles

Columbus to Bloomington Ind.  226 miles

Columbus to Morgantown W Va.  205 miles

Columbus to Ann Arbor  191 miles

Columbus to Lexington KY   190 miles.

So, as I see it, both the  Kentucky and WVa.  schools are unconsummated rivalries that should be played from time to time.  I think fans would enjoy it.   I think the only thing preventing the KY game from being played is the SEC policy of chickening out of these sorts of interconference games. 

If I am not mistaken I do think that KY does play Indiana from time to time.  The distance between those two schools is only  180 miles....10 less than from Columbus.  

Kentucky's "rivalry" I guess is actually with Tennessee.....but, Knoxville is 173 miles from Lexington.....only  7 miles closer than Bloomington and  17 miles closer than Columbus.

While I did not perform the  rest of the task I would suggest that Lexington KY is actually closer to more  other Big Ten school sites than it is to  other SEC school sites. 

[The Gipper]

As I suspected after doing the whole thing:   Kentucky is much closer to most Big Ten Schools than it is to most  SEC schools:

KY to SEC schools:

Tennessee   173;  Vanderbilt  215;  Georgia  404;  South Carolina  433;  Alabama  460; Missouri  460;  Mississippi  464;  Auburn 486;  Miss.  St. 491; Arkansas  694; Florida  717; LSU  801;  Texas A&M  976

KY to Big Ten schools:   Indiana  180;  Ohio State   190;  Michigan 296;  Illinois  311;  Maryland  312; Purdue 322; Michigan St. 328;  Northwestern 389;

Penn St.  505; Wisconsin  520;  Iowa  550; Rutgers  560; Nebraska 777;  Minnesota  780

[wargograw]

On 12/26/2018 at 3:43 PM, The Gipper said:

Well..."recently" is when the cupcake walk for the SEC has existed.....not sure how far back it goes. 

Penn State a cupcake?

[wargograw]

On 12/27/2018 at 7:07 AM, Bob806 said:

Lol...ok let's say I agree that not traveling for Bowl games  is irrevelant. I suppose you're correct that it's not the SEC's  fault people prefer better climates for Bowl games. The PAC 10 has enjoyed the home field advantage in the Rose Bowl for decades, as teams from the midwest see tgeir first bikini in 4 months😊

So of your million data points, you're ok with Bama, Florida and Georgia staying within a 500 mile radius? Rarely/never even traveling to Syracuse, Boston College, Ann Arbor, Madison? 

I know it's a 2 way street. In my Buckeye fan homerdom, spanning 48 years, they've had home -and -homes with USC, UCLA, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Florida St, LSU, Missouri, West Virginia; Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College, Penn St before PSU entered the Big 10, BYU.....

I suppose you will say that's irrevelant too. 

And it's not nearly enough. Not nearly enough intersectional games by my Buckeyes. They schedule a lot of MAC teams, which I despise.

How's that? A Buckeye homer admitting their TEAM has scheduling flaws despite taking RISKS occasionally. 

Happy New Year.  Hope my post helped clear the air on my SEC angst.

I thought you were arguing about bowl game locations. Yeah, I'll agree that there should be some more homes and homes, but I think there are probably as many in the SEC as any other conference. We have Clemson. Georgia and Clemson had a series recently. So did Auburn and Clemson. Texas scheduled LSU and Alabama. Florida offered to go to UCF (not your point, just saying), and four of our teams have quality teams from other conferences that they play every year (Georgia, SC, Kentucky, Florida), Tennessee went to OU, etc.

[wargograw]

On 12/27/2018 at 11:17 AM, The Gipper said:

As I suspected after doing the whole thing:   Kentucky is much closer to most Big Ten Schools than it is to most  SEC schools:

KY to SEC schools:

Tennessee   173;  Vanderbilt  215;  Georgia  404;  South Carolina  433;  Alabama  460; Missouri  460;  Mississippi  464;  Auburn 486;  Miss.  St. 491; Arkansas  694; Florida  717; LSU  801;  Texas A&M  976

KY to Big Ten schools:   Indiana  180;  Ohio State   190;  Michigan 296;  Illinois  311;  Maryland  312; Purdue 322; Michigan St. 328;  Northwestern 389;

Penn St.  505; Wisconsin  520;  Iowa  550; Rutgers  560; Nebraska 777;  Minnesota  780

Congrats

[The Gipper]

17 hours ago, wargograw said:

Penn State a cupcake?

Outlier.

[Gunz41]

I also am a huge Buckeye fan, but I think the 1st point in this post is off the mark.

Maybe at the end of the season there were more SEC teams ranked, so an LSU could boast they beat so many top 25 teams, but seeing the top 25 each week, there were certainly quite a few Big 10 teams ranked throughout the season, even ones voted out and then back in. And so much of it is really where a team started out ranked.

Here is what I remember (and not going back to see exact numbers).

Big 10: OSU, Mich, Penn state, NW, Mich St, Wisconsin, Iowa 

7 Teams

SEC: Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Kentucky, Miss St, Texas A&M, Missouri, Auburn

9 Teams

I could have missed someone, but not a huge disparity.

Using bowl games as a barometer is a risky thing, as teams have different motivations going into them. There is absolutely no way to actually think that a Florida team is THAT much better than team up north as just 1 example. Georgia loss didn't surprise me in the least either. Georgia thought they should be in playoff, and didnt have same motivation against Texas. 

In my opinion, at their best, the Top 4 teams in the nation are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia. It's hard to give a next 4, as have bad memories of the last games of a few, such as Oklahoma and Notre Dame, and just being unsure about a few others like Texas, LSU, etc

[bjh2130]

3 hours ago, Gunz41 said:

I also am a huge Buckeye fan, but I think the 1st point in this post is off the mark.

Maybe at the end of the season there were more SEC teams ranked, so an LSU could boast they beat so many top 25 teams, but seeing the top 25 each week, there were certainly quite a few Big 10 teams ranked throughout the season, even ones voted out and then back in. And so much of it is really where a team started out ranked.

Here is what I remember (and not going back to see exact numbers).

Big 10: OSU, Mich, Penn state, NW, Mich St, Wisconsin, Iowa 

7 Teams

SEC: Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Kentucky, Miss St, Texas A&M, Missouri, Auburn

9 Teams

I could have missed someone, but not a huge disparity.

Using bowl games as a barometer is a risky thing, as teams have different motivations going into them. There is absolutely no way to actually think that a Florida team is THAT much better than team up north as just 1 example. Georgia loss didn't surprise me in the least either. Georgia thought they should be in playoff, and didnt have same motivation against Texas. 

In my opinion, at their best, the Top 4 teams in the nation are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia. It's hard to give a next 4, as have bad memories of the last games of a few, such as Oklahoma and Notre Dame, and just being unsure about a few others like Texas, LSU, etc

The thing is last year when the Big Ten went 7-1 they didn't use bowl games as a barometer. It's used whenever it fits the narrative being pushed.

[Gunz41]

24 minutes ago, bjh2130 said:

The thing is last year when the Big Ten went 7-1 they didn't use bowl games as a barometer. It's used whenever it fits the narrative being pushed.

I'm not arguing the overall point, I think BOTH conferences have really good teams at the top.

If you haven't noticed, the things that get me to post most of the time are using different standards for the same thing, or using opinion as fact, or appearing to deliberately use only particular facts instead of whole picture.

For example, Ohio State only beat 4 ranked teams (Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern, and Washington). When in fact, they beat 6 at the time (add TCU and Michigan State). A person trying to only use one set of facts to bolster their argument will only use one of them. They can then, and some do, turn around and use the opposite side to make a point.

Or let's use something in the pros, and hot topic on this thread in past year. Saquon Barkley is soooooo great he had all these yards. True. Take out the big plays and YPC goes way down. So one side of the argument says he isnt a complete workhorse and is assisted some by big plays. True. The opposite opinion will look at other parts as complete.

Or for a national audience, and what REALLY gets me, is someone like Colin Cowherd who uses completely different standards. Example: someone he likes, say a Darnold or Luck, throw an INT, I dont care about INT, when BM threw 3 against Baltimore, its ALL about the INT.

Just trying to keep everyone honest. The way I look at things is I try to look at both sides. So if we are to look at # of ranked teams as the 1st example, if you are saying at the time they played and I am saying using the final standings, then we are discussing 2 different things.